BJP’s attempt to reach out to the people for the Asansol Municipal Elections scheduled to be held on January 22 went wrong after party MP and former president Dilip Ghosh alleged that he was ‘manhandled’ by a Trinamool Congress candidate, Ranbir Singh, and the police on Tuesday.
Not the least, Ghosh also alleged that apart from Ranbir, the district police also heckled him and scuffled with his security guards for campaigning in North Asansol.
The incident took place in the morning when Ghosh went for election campaigning at ward number 41, which was won by BJP’s Bigu Thakur in 2015, in North Asansol. This time too, the BJP has fielded Bigu to contest against TMC’s Ranbir Singh from the same ward.
While he was interacting with the locals, Singh intercepted Ghosh’s convoy and labelled corruption charges against Bigu.
He alleged that Bigu has played with the sentiments of people and been involved in corruption.
While pointing a finger at Ghosh, Ranbir said, “The local people here may be poor but that does not mean that they don’t have dignity. Your councillor (referring to Bigu) has done nothing and looted public money. You came here with a false promise…show us what developmental work your councilor (referring to Bigu) has done in ward number 41.”
“It is unfortunate that you came here for drama… I am not afraid of anyone while fighting for truth and honesty. I am a ‘Sardar’ and I can take on 100 people for the sake of honesty,” Ranbir was heard shouting at Ghosh.
Then, Ghosh’s convoy reached ward 66, a large contingent of police rushed to the spot and asked Ghosh that he cannot do the campaigning due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Soon their conversation turned bitter and both the parties scuffled with each other. In the melee, Ghosh’s security guards were seen trying to make a human barricade after the policemen came too close to him. A visibly angry Ghosh sat on a dharna and alleged that the police are working as TMC workers in West Bengal.
“They (police) close their eyes when ruling party leaders conduct rallies and campaigning. We were only five but despite that they prevented us from campaigning. Why don’t they take action against TMC leaders for campaigning in their respective areas?” Ghosh asked while alleging that he was manhandled.
BJP candidate Bigu, who was also present with Ghosh, denied all charges against him and said, “TMC candidate is scared of us because he knows that he is going to lose the seat.”
Later, after an hour, Ghosh withdrew the dharna and left the place.
When contacted, TMC leader Malay Ghatak said, “It is unfortunate that despite the surge in Covid-19, a large number of BJP supporters were campaigning in the area. Dilip Ghosh was lying that only five of them were campaigning in the area. As far as I know, his security guards are five in number. BJP knows that they are soon going to be history in Bengal and therefore out of frustration they are doing all the drama.”
On December 27, 2021, the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) had announced that the pending civic polls at Asansol, Bidhannagar, Siliguri and Chandannagar Municipal Corporation will be held on January 22.
The counting of votes will happen on January 25.
There are 106 wards and 1,020 polling stations in Asansol Municipal Corporation. Total polling premises will be 480 where 9,42,088 will vote.
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